Sunday, June 26, 2011

Using social media for education

It's been a while since my last blog post and it's good to be blogging again. I came across the latest Social Media Revolution video by Erik Qualman (@equalman), author of the best-selling book Socialnomics, and was once again amazed at the statistics and the huge impact that social media has on our everyday lives. Can you believe social media as a whole is probably less than five years old? Now think about what the future would be like for online engagement and communication five years from now? Isn't that just exciting!

Now how does it relate to our current (and future) education system? I believe that schools at all levels from primary to post-secondary should use social media such as Facebook and Twitter to better engage with students both inside and outside the classroom. Online group discussions on Facebook or Twitter should be the norm in order to encourage social and continuous learning among students anytime and anywhere. A recent study showed that using Twitter for educational purposes in the classroom doubled student engagement compared to traditional learning methods. Interestingly enough, it also increased students' GPAs. Although a small sample size was used, this study still shows that there is opportunity to use Twitter and even Facebook in class to teach and engage students in discussion since most students are on it anyway while their professor is lecturing in the background.

Do you agree or disagree about using social media in (and even outside) the classrooms to better engage students? I'd like to know your comments.

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Meeting Guy Kawasaki

I met Guy Kawasaki at The Art of Marketing Conference on Monday! I also got his autograph for his new book Enchantment! I also got a chance to play around with the Blackberry Playbook!

Friday, February 11, 2011

Ignite Toronto 5 was a blast!


Went to Ignite Toronto last night at Drake Hotel. It was fantastic to listen to new ideas from different people. Best of all, they were only limited to five minutes each presentation! Given my short attention span, I actually paid attention for the whole hour or so event! Here's the event link: http://igniteto.com/

My favorite speakers would have to be:
Ramona Pringle - http://www.ramonapringle.com (@ramonapringle)
Mike Tissenbaum from U of T
Johanne Durocher - http://fashioninmotion.wordpress.com/ (@fashioninmotion)
Jason Sae Bento - http://www.nicebento.com/ (@jay21art)

Looking forward to the next Ignite TO! Join me!

Sunday, January 9, 2011

Using Twitter to find a job

There are tons of job postings posted on Twitter daily. If you haven't tried using Twitter's search function and hashtag searches, then give it a try this new year! For example, using the hashtags #toronto #jobs to do a basic search in the Toronto area, here's just a few jobs that I've found today:

Best Buy is hiring a Mobile Specialist
Loblaw's is hiring Part-time Store Associates
Accenture is a hiring full time CRM Manager

If you're looking for more specific jobs, then try using more specific search words such as: insurance, marketing, bartending, web developer, etc. Here's a video from Mashable that explains more in detail. There's so many ways you can use Twitter and search for information! So give it a try if you haven't yet! Would you like me to help you search for a job on Twitter? Send me a tweet to @jreandino! Follow me on Twitter too!